Pile and plank pulling device with diesel ram or the like



Sept. 6, 1960 N 2,951,345

FILE AND PLANK PULLING DEVICE WITH DIESEL RAM OR THE LIKE Filed Aug. 17. 1956 AnZozz Lang 1-5. INVENTOR.

PILE AND PLANK PULLING DEVICE WITH DIESEL RAM GR THE LEE Anton Lang, Hartberg, Austria, assignor to Delmag- Maschinenfabrik Reinhold Dornfeld, Esslingen, Germany Filed Aug. 17, 1956, Ser. No. 604,658

Claims priority, application Austria Aug. 30, 1955 4 Claims. or. 61-76) It is known to drive piles or planks with ramming frames and with power hammers which are lifted and lowered by means of steam or compressed air. Further, pile and plank pulling devices, and set-on ramming implements are known wherein the ram operates in the manner of an internal combustion engine, for example, as in a diesel ram. Insofar as these devices are simple pullers, or rams suitable for pulling sheet piling, section irons, plates, and the like, the piston always transfers a portion of its working capacity to the pulling element during its upward movement.

According to the present invention which first of all provides for the utilization of diesel rams, a novel way has been developed for using the forces of compression of the ram, during the downward movement of the latter, and to convert them into pulling forces acting in the upward direction on the pulling element. This renders it possible to evolve a very simple pile and plank pulling device, employing a diesel-ram, which may readily be transformed into a pile or plank driving, or into a pulling device while using the same diesel ram.

The drawing shows by way of example an embodiment of the invention, wherein Fig. 1 is a front elevation view; Fig. 2 is a side elevation view with a portion broken off; Fig. 3 represents the hydraulic power transforming cylinder in longitudinal section; Figs. 4 and 5 are an elevational view and a plan view, respectively, of a bridge included in the device of Figs. 1 and 2; and Fig. 6 represents the hydraulic cylinder and pull rod of the device of Figs. 1 and 2;

As visible from the drawing, the device embodying the invention includes four elongated members 1 forming a guide for a diesel ram 12 of a known type and suspended by means of springs 7 from a block and tackle heads, and kept under tension by means of a winch. A bridge 11 is fixedly connected by screws 13 to the members 1 of the guide. When using the device as a pulling means, a cylinder 2 (Figs. 1, 3 and 6) housing a hydraulic transmission system, is suspended from the bridge 11 (Figs. 1, 2, 3 or 4, and 5) by an integral flange portion 2. A pull rod 21 extends downwards in a liquid-tight manner through the bottom end of cylinder 2. The lower end of the pull rod 21 is adapted to be connected to the pile or plank which is to be pulled upwardly. Within the cylinder 2 the pull rod is provided with a stop 4, and terminates in an enlarged piston 4'. The piston 4 is reciprocable in an inner bore 3' opening downwardly in a piston 3 which is, in turn, reciprocable in the cylinder 2 and projects upwards from the latter. The space 6 in the cylinder 2 between the bottom of the latter and the composite piston constituted by the pistons 3 and 4', is filled with an incompressible liquid confined therein. If the pulling device is kept under tension by an upward force applied to the tackle head 8 while the pull rod 21 is attached to a pile or plank and the stop 4 engages the bottom end of cylinder 2, the liquid in 6 keeps the piston 3 with the blow receiving insert 5 in the raised position indicated in Fig. 3, and, when the diesel ice ram falls, the impact force of the ram is applied to the insert 5 and drives the hollow piston 3 downwardly with respect to the cylinder 2 by reason of the high inertia of the guide 1 and the elements mounted thereon. "During such downward movement of the piston 3 relative to cylinder 2, the lower edge of the hollow piston 3 acts upon the liquid in space 6 to develop a high pressure in such liquid, and the latter acts upwardly against the under side of piston 4 to drive the latter upwardly into the cavity or bore 3' of the piston 3, thereby to exert an upward pull on the rod 21 and on the pile or plank to which the latter is attached. By providing the vpiston 4'- with a larger elfective area than the lower edge of the piston 3, the upward force or impact exerted on the pull rod 21 can be made larger than the downward impact of the falling ram 12 against the insert 5 of piston 3. Thus, the hydraulic transmission system housed in the cylinder 2 is effective to reverse the direction of the downward impact of ram 12 of a pile driving device so that the latter can be used for pulling a pile or plank, and also can be effective for multiplying the force of such downward impact. It will be apparent that, as an upward pull is continuously exerted on the block and tackle head 8 and the ram 12 is made to repeatedly rise and fall, a succession of upwardly directed impacts are transmitted to the pull rod 21 for pulling the pile or plank to which the latter is suitably attached. Although the ram 12 has been referred to above as a diesel ram, it is to be understood that the particular type of ram does not afiect the operation of the described hydraulic transmission system, and that the ram 12 may be repeatedly raised by steam, compressed air or any other conventional means.

The operation of the diesel ram is started and stopped in a manner known per se by means of a winch 9 and a pawl runner 10 which is slidable along a channel iron 22 fixed to the guide 1 of the diesel ram and is suspended from the winch rope 14 so that the pawl runner 10 can be lifted and lowered. A spring mounted pawl 17 of the runner 10 is engageable with a nose 18 of the diesel ram, so that the latter can be lifted in its guide 1. When the pawl is disengaged, the ram will freely fall, bounce back upon its impact, and continue in a succession of falls and bounds. Thereupon the runner 10 is wound up with the pawl 17 retracted in order to prevent the engagement of the nose 18 of the jumping ram with said pawl. For stopping the device the pawl runner is lowered until the nose 18 of the ram again engages the pawl 17.

I claim:

1. A pile and plank pulling device comprising a guide assembly, a ram reciprocable vertically in said guide assembly, an upwardly opening cylinder carried by said guide assembly below said ram and containing a body of liquid, a first piston extending downwardly into said cylinder and having a downwardly opening bore, a second piston reciprocable in said bore of the first piston so that, when said ram moves downwardly in said guide assembly and strikes said first piston, the lower edge of the latter acts against said body of liquid which, in turn, moves said second piston upwardly, and pulling means depending from said second piston for transmitting the upward movement of the latter to an article to be pulled.

2. A pile and plank pulling device as in claim 1; wherein said pulling means includes a rod depending from said second piston and extending slidably through the bottom end of said cylinder, said rod having an abutment thereon within said cylinder engageable with said bottom end of the cylinder to determine the lowermost position of said second piston.

3. A pile and plank pulling device as in claim 1; further comprising a block and tackle head, and spring means suspending said guide assembly from said head so that the pulling device can be supported from said head.

4. A pile and plank pulling device, comprising a guide assembly; a ram reciprocable in said guide assembly in a vertically extending path; cylinder means carried in said guide assembly below said ram and' containing a body of liquid, said cylinder means having an axis extending in a vertical direction; first piston means having a piston face axially movable in said cylinder means and superposed on said body of liquid therein, and an impact receiving face outside said cylinder means in said path forabutting impact of said ram against said impact receiving face during the downward stroke of said ram so as to transmit the impact of said ram to said liquid; second piston means having a piston fac'e axially movable in said cylinder means and superposed on said body of liquid, said cylinder means, said first and said second piston means confining said liquid tlierebetween, whereby, when said ram moves downwardly in said guide assembly and abuts against said impact receiving face, the piston face of said first piston means acts downwardly against said body of liquid which, in turn, moves said second piston means upwardly; and pulling means depending from said second piston means for transmitting the upward movement of the latter to an article to be pulled.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,014,295 Gibb Jan. 9, 1912 1,039,369 Eichler Sept. 24, 1912 2,735,649 Swallert Feb. 21, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 434,097 Great Britain Q 1933 729,756 Germany Dec. 22, 1942 

